Food inflation fell to four months' low at 8.60 per cent for the week ended November 20, as prices of vegetables, wheat and pulses declined on increased output and arrival of kharif crop in the market.
     
Food inflation in the previous week was 10.15 per cent.
     
This is the seventh consecutive week of decline in the food inflation as availability of food commodities improved after the end of the monsoon season.
     
While pulses' prices fell by 10 per cent, vegetables became cheaper by 3 per cent on account of a sharp dip in potato prices that reduced by as much as 42.99 per cent on an annual basis. Also wheat prices went down by 3.16 per cent, according to the government data released today.
    
However, food items like egg, meat and fish rose by about 15.58 per cent.
    
In vegetables, onion was expensive by 16.86 per cent on annual basis. Rice also became expensive by 1.84 per cent.
    
Also, fruits and milk became costlier by 19.27 per cent and 17.76 per cent, respectively, on year-on-year basis.
    
The fall in food inflation is in line with Chief Economic advisor Kaushik Basu's projection earlier this week that food prices inflation will come down to single digits level, declining beyond 9 per cent for the week ended November 20.
     
Decline in food inflation has raised hopes that overall inflation may decline to around 6 per cent by the end of the year, as predicted by the government.